Victorino eclipses Schmidt in postseason hits

Philadelphia Phillies' Shane Victorino scores on a sacrifice fly by teammate Chase Utley as Cincinnati Reds catcher Ramon Hernandez waits for the throw during the first inning of Game 1 of baseball's National League Division Series, Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2010, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

PHILADELPHIA -- Ask a Phillies fan for a franchise icon and to this day Mike Schmidt would likely be on the tips of most tongues. The greatest slugger in team history ... but now merely a footnote in one of its most important statistical categories.

With two hits in the Phillies' 4-0 win over the Reds in Game 1 of the NLDS Wednesday night, including a crucial one in the second inning that plated two runs and knocked Reds starter Edinson Volquez out of the game, Shane Victorino is now the all-time Phillies leader in postseason hits.

The Phillies' unlikely Rule 5 draftee from Hawaii who turned himself into an outfielder coveted by many a major league team, Victorino has stroked 35 hits in 33 postseason games over the past four autumns, while Schmidt had 33 hits in 36 playoff games.

Oh, and in that time, the comparatively diminutive Victorino has six home runs to Schmidt's four.

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Shall we call Cooperstown right now?

"It means a lot, but I don't look at individual things like that," Victorino said.

But what else could he say after his pitcher throws the second no-hitter in postseason baseball history?

"It's something special," Victorino added. "I want to keep going. I want to keep adding onto that, and I want to keep moving forward. But I want to win. It doesn't mean anything if you don't win."

Victorino won his battle with Volquez, the hard-throwing right-hander whose youth showed clearly through jitters he plainly exhibited. But Victorino ended Volquez's night for good by battling to a deep count, fouling a couple of pitches off and then flaring the two-run single to center.

"He had as much pressure on him as I had," Victorino said. "I tried to get the best pitch I could hit. I fouled a couple of pitches off but then I got one I was able to put into center field."

Victorino considered that a stroke of fortune. Noting Roy Halladay's overshadowing achievement on this day, Victorino added, "(Volquez) is the kind of guy that can throw a no-hitter himself. He has such great stuff, at any given point he can get on a streak where he's unhittable. But tonight we were able to make him throw a lot of pitches and obviously were able to score some runs. And with a guy like Halladay on the mound, if you get four or five runs, you're in a pretty good position."

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Placido Polanco had a cortisone shot to ease the pain of his chronic left elbow a week ago today. Having already spent three weeks on the disabled list with the injury and missing at least a handful of other games through the season because of the elbow, his availability of the first round of the playoffs wasn't in question. But there was at least some concern about when the elbow pain would flare up again.

So Polanco missed Wednesday's 4-0 Game 1 victory over the Reds. But it wasn't his elbow that kept him parked in the dugout. He was kept off the field for the first postseason game of the 2010 season with what general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. called "mid-back soreness and tightness."

"It feels a lot better today," Polanco said after the game. "(Thursday) I'm expecting to practice, and then

Amaro said Polanco first felt the pain Monday, while getting out of his car. He was also confident his regular third baseman would be back at his customary spot on the diamond and in the lineup for Friday's Game 2.

"Obviously it felt bad enough that he told Charlie he wasn't able to go, (but) he's actually doing better now," Amaro said. "He just had some more treatment, I just talked to (head team athletic trainer) Scott Sheridan, he's doing better."

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Perhaps it was fitting that the Phillies' postseason ride began with a position player unavailable to play. In 162 regular season games, the Phils played just 15 games with their regular eight.

In six of the seven games they played against the Reds in the regular season, both Polanco and Chase Utley were on the disabled list. Ryan Howard, Victorino, Jimmy Rollins and Carlos Ruiz were also among the 19 players to visit the D.L. this summer.

"It's kind of a normal occurrence," Amaro said with a laugh. "We want to get everyone healthy, obviously. We have a very viable option in (Wilson) Valdez."

"It's exciting," Valdez said before making his first career playoff start. "You don't want something to happen to a teammate, but you have to be ready every day. I work to be ready at every position. So when I get a chance to play, I am ready."

Valdez, a 32-year-old journeyman who went to spring training as a non-roster player was designated for assignment on May 17. Thankfully for the Phillies, Valdez wasn't claimed by any of the other 29 major league teams when he went through the waiver process.